Melisasa

So far I've taken a couple of solo trips out and I've accumulated quite a lot of information on getting around and generally, a deeper understanding of Mexico, as a traveller. Thought I pass it on, and hopefully one of you out there enjoy Mexico like I did!

(Following up from part 1, this post will be about getting accommodations, and finding out which places to visit.)

3. Places to visit 
Finding out which places to visit is always the most difficult part when planning for a trip. Having made so many trips out, I found that the places that left the best impression were not always the most beautiful ones. A lot of it, is dependent on my experiences there, and the things I did.

To make the most out of your experience, you have to understand what type of traveller you are. Starting out, I always made my plans around the top places to visit on tripadvisor. But these places are always suitable and sometimes I found myself wasting time and money, just to visit a place for the sake of it.

Mexico generally fits into these few category of places: Mountains and Hikes, Natural formations, Beaches, Art, Historical and Culture, Archeology, Nightlife 

Mountains and Hikes
Mexico lies on the plate boundary and naturally have volcanoes and mountains. The ones I know, are La Malinche in Tlaxcala and Popocatepetl in Puebla/Mexico.

La Malinche isn't a very hard and technical and usually takes about half a day. Most people would stay at the cabins at the base of the mountains the night before, but a day trip is possible too.

Popocatepetl is an active volcano and is currently off limits, but one can scale the peak next to it, Iztaccihuatl. I have never climbed any of these volcanoes, but I understand that there are tours organised to visit the volcano and it should take 1-2 days.


There are other mountains in Mexico too, but these are the 2 that I know.

In Mexico there are also alot of hills that are great for hiking. It's not as high as a mountain, but the view is equally amazing. Queretaro has a Pena de Bernal and there are lots of small hills in Tlaxcala, including this one that I climbed.


Natural formations
By far, Chiapas has the greatest variety of natural formations I've seen. Located in Chiapas is the Canyon Sumidero, where one can take a 1 hour boat tour through the canyon. There is also Aqua Azul, a series of pools with water that is really blue, cascading down the valley. There is also Lagunas de Montebello, a huge lake with an island on the middle. One can pay to row a boat to the island, and take a short swim near its shores.


Oaxaca also has a really famous limestone formation, Hierve el Agua. This is something that shouldn't be missed when in Oaxaca.


The states of Yucatana and Quintana roo, are also famous for their cenotes and corals. From what I've heard and seen, Dos Ojos Cenote seems to be the prettiest and biggest one of all. There are lots of diving spots there as well. Ik Kil cenote is also famous, though I would not recommend it, for it is crowded with people and that ruins the whole experience. For corals, I would recommend Cozumel, an island just off the coast of Playa Del Carmen. Snorkel tours can be booked at $440 pesos per person, excluding the boat ride to the island.


Beaches 
Mexico has so so so many amazing beaches and beach towns. Puerto Vallarta in Guadalajara, Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca, Acapulco in Guerrero, Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum in Quintana Roo, La Paz in the Baja California stripe, are some of the famous ones. I personally would not recommend Veracruz, because the water and sand still seems to be affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The water and sand on the east side of Mexico are unbeatable, but the towns of the beaches on the west side are alot nicer (personal opinion - do note that I have only been to Puerto Vallarta for beaches on the west side).



Art, History and Culture
Mexico is rich with history, culture and art! I really developed a greater appreciation for art while exploring the various museums here and this is my favourite type of destination.

The great news is most of the states have a series of museums and they are all located within walking distance, unlike nature sights which often requires a day tour with transport provided. In every city, there would be 1. Zocalo - the main square of the city, and it is usually surrounded by ... 2. The main Cathedral and 3. The National Palace (or Palacio, in Spanish). The Palace are usually covered with murals that explains the history of the country or the town. The architecture style of the main cathedral would give some insights into the culture and generally architecture style of the town too. One can often find a market (mercado) in the city as well, and that is often one of my favourite place to visit, just to try the local food and purchase the local produce.


So, generally, when planning where to visit, the best place to start would be the Zocalo, because that is where most of the attractions are centered around. Most cities have at least 2-3 museums to visit, but the cities with the best variety of museums, is Mexico City. It is my favourite state/city. And my student card in UDLAP gave me alot of free or discounted access as well. Other states with wonderful museums are Guadalajara and Puebla. Puebla is especially beautiful with lots and lots of historical buildings.


Archeology
Mexico also have lots of Pyramids!!! I had no idea they had pyramids before I came, so it's really quite a nice surprise. Mexico used to have Aztecs and Mayan tribes before the Spaniards attacked and conquered the country, and there are lots of museums to go with the pyramids, explaining and detailing life before the Spaniards arrive. The Anthropology Museum in Mexico City is a must visit as well.

The famous pyramid structure in Mexico are Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Palenque in Chiapas, Teotihuacan in Mexico City and Monte Alban in Oaxaca. I would recommend reading up on the culture and history of the respective tribes of the pyramids and also hiring a guide for first time visits. Otherwise, it would seem meaningless like a bunch of rocks built by ancient people.


Nightlife
Mexicans loveeee their party. But I did discover that Mexicans party differently. While Singaporeans are used to the American styled clubs, where everyone jumps and go crazy over the latest hits and rave parties, Mexicans typically party over salsa and cumbia music, where everyone would cumbia with friends and strangers on the dance floor. Micheladas are a popular party mix, along with tequilla and cervezas (beer).

That being said, lots of beach towns still provide the type of clubs and parties that most are used to, and Playa Del Carmen, Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco are especially famous for it.
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When identifying places to visit, I find it super helpful to mark down the locations of these sites on a map, I usually use Google Map and Triposo, but more often Triposo. Triposo is an app that allows you to save a location at any coordinates unlike Google and it has recommendations on where to eat, sleep and visit too. It also has offline maps available, which really help to conserve my phone's battery and data usage.


After marking down the sites, it is a whole easier to plan, knowing the distance between each site, and whether to skip some completely, because its just too out of the way.

4. Accommodations 
(I have only stayed in hostels when I traveled here, so this guide would only be applicable to people who are considering the same option.)

I always make an online reservation for my stay before going to the place itself, to feel more secure and also so that I know someone out there, at my destination knows about my arrival. Should I find myself in some trouble, at least someone would know that I'm missing. Sounds drastic, but think of it as an insurance. The website that I used throughout this entire exchange is booking.com, simply because it allows me to cancel my booking should I see the need to.


Usually, I would first mark down the places I want to visit on a map. Either "star" the location on Google map or mark it down on Triposo. Then I would search booking.com for the list of hostels and order them by lowest price first. I would then begin choosing from the cheapest hostel. The factors I would first consider is location. Is the hostel located near to most of the places I want to visit? If not, are there hostels, just a little more expensive, but with a better location? Next factor would be comfort. Is it a female dormitory? Does the room look comfortable and clean? Following which would be, breakfast. Is breakfast provided? And lastly, I'm assuming all hostels have wifi. It's the basic necessity!


Next thing to note, when packing for the trip, always bring your own towel, lock and toiletries. Most hostels do not provide a towel for free, and almost none provide toiletries. Some of the hostels rent out locks at a deposit, but sometimes you might land up in one that requires you to make payment, or worse, does not have a locker space.


Before departing, I would always save my booking information in my phone, and also check and notify the hostel of my estimated check in time. I forgot to do this for my hostel in Tulum, and ended up sleeping in the bus station, when I arrived at 3am and realised the counter wasn't open 24/7.

Otherwise, hostels are a great place to meet people when travelling alone and for finding out more information on places to go too. I also managed to sell off my snorkel on my last trip in Quintana Roo and Yucatan when I was leaving and knew I didn't need it anymore.

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And that's all for the guide! There are so many more details I would want to share as well, but I think anymore information should be converted into an ebook, ahaha. Perhaps! That would be one thing on my bucketlist!

(My posts are all so backdated!) Oaxaca was 2 weeks back, with the other Singapore guys. We chose to go the weekend before day of the dead, so as to spend that weekend in Puebla instead (and it was so good! Gonna talk about it in the next post)


We left on Thursday night, took the overnight bus from CAPU, and arrived in the morning. We took ADO and the tickets were around $300+ pesos. It would have been half the price if we booked online, but none of our cards worked ): The journey was 6hrs long and there was no toilets on board, which was unbearable for the guys.

At 5-6am, we arrived in Oaxaca and the first step was the find a hotel/hostel, but nobody was open. We could knock on every hotel we find, but we didn't want to wake the reception just to ask how much it costs, and then reject them. In the end, we ended up wandering into a church, the only place alive and full of people at that hour, and it so happen that there was some celebration going on, and we even got free bread and coffee. Thanks for the wonderful welcome Oaxaca, it was much needed in the cold and dark morning.



Subsequently we found a place that had a room with 5 beds, that only costs $120 pesos a night. Was it cheap or what. And then the first stop was Monte Alban!




It didn't take the whole day unlike what we expected, so upon returning we went to check out the zocalo and the biggest museum in Oaxaca, Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca. We were in luck because there happened to be a wedding happening just outside the templo (linked to the museo) and we experienced the festivity and traditions of a wedding celebration. After the procession, we were more than ready to call it a day, and returned to the hotel.







Day 2 was spent with the local tour agency, to various sites around Oaxaca. First stop was the largest and widest tree in Oaxaca, followed by the Mitla, a site dedicated to the God of the Underworld. Next was a weaving tour, where we were shown and taught the dying and weaving process. This was followed by a Mezcal tour, and then ending off at Hierve de Agua. On the way back from the tour, we found the local chocolate store - Chocolates La Soledad and the chocolate making sites of Moyordomo as well.












Day 3 was a trip to a town Tlacolula, where there was a huge Sunday market. It was so crowded, and there was really alot to see and buy. There were people buying and selling turkeys and chickens, weaved goods, day of the dead flowers, chocolates, meat, etc. We went by cab and returned by bus. Bus tickets were just $20pesos, which was way more comfortable than our cab ride which costs $50 with 4 of us squeezing at the back. When we arrived back in Oaxaca downtown, we discovered another market beside the bus station and it was so fun to see all the ornaments and ofrendas (offerings) they were selling for day of the dead, and the halloween costumes. I visited a couple of museums after, before calling it a day.



On the last day, I visited the remaining museums left before doing some souvenir shopping. Oaxaca is probably the place where I purchased the most things, because its my last trip in the Southern parts of Mexico and I don't know if I will be able to find any of these goods back here in Puebla.










During my time spent in Oaxaca, I also got to meet some locals and made new friends! My first breakfast was at street side Tamales store, and there, I met the owner and his assistant, a happy old man. We started talking and I went back for my next 2 breakfast. Their negro mole tamales was spot on and so was the chocolate con leche (chocolate milk) drink. It was also fun to talk to them and the old man was so fun and cute.


Overall, Oaxaca is medium sized town that isn't very modernised, just like most states in the South, but it is full of art and culture and contains many hidden spots if one looks hard enough. Oaxaca is also famous for their indigenous villages (Los Pueblos Mancomunados), and there are tour available for one to visit, hike and live along side the villagers. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time, but it would be have been great.